The CADspan engine uses your geometry to perform a virtual ‘shrink-wrap’ and outputs an entirely new STL file that describes the exterior of your CAD file. This new STL file is a single, solid object, ready to 3D print. This may of course lead to very expensive models, but it may just work perfectly in some instances, I would love to hear of anyones experiences with it.

As well as the CADspan plugin and Cadspan Pro there is a neat little 3D print thickness calculator that you can use to calculate per 3D Printing machine/process. May be very handy to solve wall thickness issues for Shapeways users. Again I have not had the time to play with it yet so would love to get some feedback from any of the Shapeways community who try it out?

Cadspan Pro can use exported drawings from Sketchup, Revit, ArchiCAD, Rhino, 3dStudioMax, Bentley and others to create files that will print on numerous 3D printing machines. CADspan Pro web application works along side the CADspan Plugin to allow better control over the mesh resolution and provides a folder structure so you can manage multiple projects. It also allows for multiple files to be processed simultaneously. Register for a free 30 day CADspan Pro trial.